A collections company has filed a civil lawsuit against pop star Janet Jackson, one of the world’s biggest stars and a member of entertainment’s most notable family. The agency asserts the entertainer and other companies that work with her owe her former managers over $200,000.
Jackson, who boasts a net worth of $180 million, started working with David Weise and Associates (a division of NKSFB) in August 2017. Since then, the two parties have parted ways. The management agency contends the “Control” chart-topper owes them almost a quarter million dollars in unpaid fees.
However, lawyers for the singer say the bill has been “resolved years ago,” and assert the lawsuit is frivolous and ill-informed.
The Lawsuit
The lawsuit names Jackson, Black Doll Inc, Juggernaut Productions, Rhythm Nation, JDJ Entertainment, and Queendom Inc. as defendants. The claim alleges the aforementioned parties never paid Jackson’s former business managers from the firm Nigro Karlin Segal Feldstein & Bolno, according to RadarOnline.com.
As a result, the $238,593.99 debt was sent at the top of 2023 to the Creditors Adjustment Bureau which has since taken legal action against the multi-Grammy winner.
The Defense Argues There Is No Debt
Attorney Ronald Richards has been hired to represent Jackson and states there were “errors” in the accounting on the managers’ part — and his client has tried to work to resolve those concerns.
“We have been working with a distant former manager who referred a bill to collections that was resolved years ago due some errors that were made with Mrs. Jackson’s account,” the lawyer said.
“If the case was assigned for collections and they are suing as the assignee, they will be in for a big surprise as the claim is past the statute of limitations and was resolved years ago before the firm was bought out,” Richards explains.
According to Richards, the credit collections company “has refused, failed and/or neglected to mitigate” the damages it believes Jackson and her partners are responsible for.
Richards added, “any injury Plaintiff has suffered is a direct and consequence of the actions of Plaintiff’s own actions or the actions of others not affiliated with these answering Defendants,” and the case should be thrown out.
Jackson has not personally responded to the lawsuit.
Other Legal Fights
This is not the only legal war the singer is battling with yet another manager.
A year before hiring David Weise and Associates, Jackson and her brother Randy Jackson were reported to have enlisted the services of Danny O’Donovan to manage her 2016 “State of the World Tour.”
The alleged agreement was that he would be paid $25,000 a month for his services. O’Donovan was with the tour for 17 months, receiving compensation only for the first five months, TMZ reports.
After that, the manager claimed he was never paid — and sued both Jacksons in 2018 for $300,000.
Booked and Busy, Despite Legal Drama
The lawsuit comes as Lifetime announces a follow-up documentary to its wildly successful self-titled two-part look into the singer’s life in 2022. The documentary aired on A&E and had 15.7 million viewers, according to Variety.
She is also preparing for her upcoming tour starting on April 14.
